“Why?” you should never stop learning

Have you ever listened to a preschool child, and noticed every third sentence is a question? They wear their parents out with “why, why, why?”. My biggest “why” question is “Why did we stop asking why?” At some point it happens. It might be that we grow discouraged as our “why” questions get more and more unsatisfactory answers from tired parents. I suspect its more complicated than that. I suspect we get too proud to ask because it exposes to the world that we don’t know everything. Maybe that has something to do with the reason Jesus said we should be like children. Kids know how much they don’t know, but they want to know, and they press to find out. I think we should be kids again in asking all kinds of questions, pressing to find the answer, and not being worried so much about what people think. I would place continuing to learn as my number eight on the ten most important things in life.

What should we be learning? I know people who know every bit of movie trivia, some who know every bit of celebrity gossip, and I think…who cares? But on the other hand, how many times do we repeat what “they say” and not ask (1) who are they? and (2) why would they say a thing like that? We accept things from our government and don’t ask “why are they doing it this way?” We also need to ask “who” are our governing officials. Do we know their names or anything about them? Do we know the issues in an election, or do we just vote for the top office and leave all the other candidates and issues a blank? Do we know where our money goes and why? Personal money and tax money? Do we know where our kids are, and even more important, what they are thinking? Do we know the state of our own health and how we can optimize it? Do we know how our car works, or do we just take it for granted? Do we know how the systems in our houses work, and how to maintain our homes? Do we know what God thinks about things?

I think if we develop the habit of asking questions and looking for the answers, we will have fuller, richer lives, be more helpful to others, and keep a young brain and a young attitude. If you just asked why I said that, you are already on the right track.